Knitting and the Agony of Frogging

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged about knitting. I’ve been doing it, but kind of sporadically, and though I’ve finished a few small projects, I haven’t taken any pictures to share. Normally, when the weather gets warm is when I put away my needles. However, this year seems to be having the opposite effect. Yesterday I wanted to knit. The problem was that I didn’t feel good about what I was knitting.

The project is for a friend, and several rows back, I made a mistake. At the time, I thought it was a small mistake, one I could recover from. So I kept going. When I noticed that the mistake was a little larger than I’d thought, I asked a couple people (non-knitters) if they noticed. They didn’t. I kept going, then realized that somewhere along the line, I’d messed something else up, and those mistakes were all I could see when I looked at the project.

To be honest, I probably conveniently ignored the fact that I needed to start over. By this time, I was over halfway into the first skein of yarn, and the thought of frogging it made me sick (frogging means to unravel the project, essentially ripping out many or all of the already completed stitches). I hate wasted time. It’s why I get violent when I lose something I’ve written.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have any other choice in this case. If I kept going, I wasn’t going to enjoy the process, and I wouldn’t be happy with the finished project. So I frogged. Turns out, it wasn’t nearly as painful as I thought, and when I cast on again, I felt good about my decision. I have several things I want to watch on Netflix, so making up the time will be fine.

I also started another project, because I know exactly where I messed up. While the pattern is an easy one, there is one row that demands attention and counting. Having tried to knit it while gaming, I didn’t give it the focus it needed. Now I have another project on another set of needles, a garter stitch scarf (all knits, all the time), that will be perfect for gaming.

Maybe this is a good sign, and I’ll get over the hurdles of other unfinished projects sitting around the place.

A.